42 of the Best Movies on Netflix You Should Stream Right Now

Election was one of filmmaker Alexander Payne’s first films and the dark, comedic satire still holds up, maybe even more now that ever. Reese Witherspoon stars as Tracy Flick, an over-achieving high school student running for office, and Matthew Broderick is Jim McAllister, a teacher at Tracy’s school who attempts to sabotage her campaign. Skewering politics, high school, sexism and more, the film is well worth a watch. 

Christopher Nolan, who wrote and directed Tenet, was adamant that the film be released in theaters in 2020, and so it became the first major premiere of the COVID era. While it certainly deserved to be seen on a big screen, the time-bending action thriller that stars John David Washington and Robert Pattinson is well worth watching at home. The film drops on Netflix Nov. 1.

While the first Paddington movie, a live-action animated comedy which came out in 2014, is essentially an origin story about how a lovable bear from Peru came to live with a charming English family, Paddington 2 is a wildly fun caper starring Hugh Grant as a villainous actor who frames Paddington for a crime he didn’t commit. The 2017 sequel was widely acclaimed and a delight for the whole family. It arrives to Netflix on Nov. 1.

Ip Man is one of the most iconic martial arts film franchises of the past two decades. Starring Hong Kong martial arts master Donnie Yen (maybe you recognize him as Caine, the blind assassin in John Wick: Chapter 4), Ip Man and its sequels are the biographical films about the life of Yip Man, the kung fu master who famously taught Bruce Lee. Blending biography, drama and action all together, Ip Man and its three sequels have been critically acclaimed and are beloved entries to Hong Kong cinema. All four films arrived to Netflix on Oct. 5.

28 Days Later has been on a lot of people’s watch lists as a result of the recent premiere of it’s long-awaited follow-up 28 Years Later. The 2002 original stars Cillian Murphy as a bike messenger who awakens from a coma to find that Britain has been ravaged by zombie-like creatures infected with a rare virus. Netflix had the good sense to acquire 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later, which have both just dropped on the platform so we can have a proper zombie marathon. (You can check out 28 Weeks Later on Hulu.)

Denzel Washington won his second Oscar for his role as corrupt cop Alonzo Harris in Training Day, which just arrived to Netflix. The 2001 film co-stars Ethan Hawke as Los Angeles narcotics officer Jake Hoyt, who’s partnered with a veteran cop, Harris. Harris’ methods initially seem unorthodox, but as they ride around LA over the course of a single day, Hoyt realizes the depths of Harris’ corruption and violence. Tom Berenger and Eva Mendes co-star, and keep an eye out for cameos from Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, and Terry Crews in his first film role. 

2008’s The Hurt Locker won six Academy Awards, including those for Best Picture and Best Director (Kathryn Bigelow was the first woman ever to receive the award). The film, which co-stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty and Ralph Fiennes, follows an a team of soldiers who defuse and dispose of explosives while deployed in Iraq. The film was critically lauded for its depiction of the stress and psychological toll of war. 

Netflix original Rebel Ridge snagged an Emmy this year for Best Television Movie. The action film stars Aaron Pierre as an ex-Marine who, in an attempt to post bail for his cousin, has the bail money stolen by corrupt cops, and the ordeal turns into an action-packed, thrilling showdown. Don Johnson has evolved from playing suave cops like Sonny Crockett in Miami Vice to morally compromised officers of the law these days, and in Rebel Ridge, he’s earned accolades for playing a wickedly corrupt Louisiana police chief at the heart of the film.

The Netflix original animated film KPop Demon Hunters premiered in June and has already risen through the ranks to become the platform’s most-watched original film of all time. The film, about a KPop group that performs by day and hunts demons in their downtime, has a soundtrack that’s already been certified Platinum thanks to hits like “Golden” and “Soda Pop.” The film stars Arden Cho, May Hong and Ji Young Yoo as the titular girl group tasked with fighting off a demonic boy band. (Can’t get enough of the movie? Check out the theatrical sing-along version and lyric videos that are also available to stream.)

Will Ferrell and Harper Steele star in the Netflix original documentary Will & Harper as two longtime friends reconnecting on a road trip as they address Steele’s transition to life as a woman. The film doesn’t gloss over the hate Steele receives for her appearance and desire to live authentically, and Ferrell tempers his comedic persona to serve as Steeles supportive friend who isn’t afraid to ask often uncomfortable questions. The film has won a Peabody Award and was nominated for an Emmy in 2025.

One of Quentin Tarantino’s best, Inglourious Basterds is an alternate World War II history that reimagines what would have happened if a group of American soldiers carried out a plot to assassinate a group of Nazis in Paris during the war. The film co-stars Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender, Melanie Laurent and Diane Kruger, and it won Christoph Waltz an Oscar for his darkly comedic portrayal of Austrian SS officer Hans Landa. 

Clueless, which premiered in 1995, is one of the great teen films of all time. The outfits! The music! The endlessly quotable script! The comedy, which stars Alicia Silverstone as the seemingly vapid LA teen Cher Horowitz, is based loosely on Jane Austen’s novel Emma and arrived on Netflix on Aug. 1. We’re totally buggin’. 

It’s a big year for Jaws; the Steven Spielberg classic is celebrating its 50th anniversary and to commemorate, the film (and its three sequels) arrived on Netflix this summer. The film, which stars Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw as three men on the hunt for a killer shark off the beaches of a New England town, has it all: thrills, impeccable performances and a score by John Williams that might be one of cinema’s most memorable ever. But you’ll want to watch soon; it leaves Netflix on Nov. 14.

Based on the comic book by Greg Rucka, the action-fantasy The Old Guard stars Charlize Theron as one of a group of immortal mercenaries who are able to regenerate even after being killed. When they’re tracked down and hunted by a pharmaceutical company that intends to study them, they fight back in an effort to protect themselves. The first film, released in 2020, was such a success that a sequel, The Old Guard 2, premiered earlier this summer and features Uma Thurman as Theron’s newest adversary.

One of Them Days is pure comedy gold. It’s the perfect (R-rated) film when you’re looking for something silly and fun and packed with great jokes and performances. The movie is part of the “desperate best friends embark on a mission with a deadline” genre (see also: Booksmart, Plan B) as best friends Dreux (Kiki Palmer) and Alyssa (SZA in her film debut) try to track down the rent money that was stolen by Alyssa’s boyfriend before the end of the day. When they realize the money is gone, they desperately try to make all the money they need in one day, leading them to sell a pair of stolen Jordans and stage an art show to sell some of Alyssa’s paintings. The film, which arrived on Netflix in March, features hilarious cameos from Katt Williams, Janelle James and Lil Rel Howery. Rumor has it a sequel is in the works.

30 for 30, the great ESPN documentary franchise, has put out dozens of great movies that cover some of the most incredible stories in sports, some of them overlooked and others focused on specific, infamous moments in history. One of the best films to come out of the series is the 2010 documentary June 17, 1994, a date that is remembered by many as the day of O.J. Simpson’s police chase in a white Ford Bronco. The televised chase would have been notorious enough but what the doc points out is that that date was a huge moment across several sports. Many of those moments, including Game 5 of that year’s NBA Finals, Arnold Palmer’s final appearance on the PGA tour and Ken Griffey Jr. tying Babe Ruth’s home run record were interrupted by one of the most famous live news broadcasts in history.

Netflix’s K-drama collection has a few hidden gems, including Ballerina, a 2023 revenge story about a former bodyguard seeking justice for her friend. Jang Ok-ju stops at nothing to make the offenders pay in this action-packed thriller. (Just don’t get this Ballerina confused with the recent release of the same name starring Ana de Armas, which is also an action-packed revenge story — that one’s not on Netflix, at least not yet.)

A powerful story about a high school basketball team in New Mexico, Rez Ball takes viewers on a journey with the Chuska Warriors. When a tragic event strikes the team, it faces challenges on and off the court — but still aims for a championship title. Co-written by Sydney Freeland and Sterlin Harjo (co-creator of Reservation Dogs), the movie is based on the novel Canyon Dreams: A Basketball Season on the Navajo Nation. 

Director Bong Joon-ho’s dark, psychological thriller Parasite won the Oscar for best picture in 2019 (along with the awards for best director, best original screenplay and best international feature). The film, about a poor family who infiltrates the home and lives of a wealthy family, was recently named the best film of the 21st century in a New York Times poll of filmmakers and actors. 

The 2024 action comedy was one of several movies starring Glen Powell that helped cement his leading-man status. The film, co-written by Powell and director Richard Linklater, stars Powell as a nerdy professor drawn into an undercover investigation. Disguising himself as a hitman, he adopts a new persona for each client — until he falls for a woman (Adria Arjona) who hires him to kill her abusive husband.

2020’s My Octopus Teacher won an Oscar for best documentary feature for telling a personal and poignant story of the friendship between a man and an octopus he meets while diving. Filmed over the course of a year, Craig Foster documented the kinship he formed with the octopus who would repeatedly and playfully approach him. The film explores the often unseen personality of a creature found in the wild who ends up giving Foster insight into nature and his own relationships. If you’re inspired by the natural world, the film’s director Pippa Ehrlich’s follow-up feature, Pangolin: Kulu’s Journey, is on Netflix now, too.

In Carry-On, which arrived on Netflix in December, Taron Egerton plays Ethan Kopek, a TSA agent who is being blackmailed by a mysterious traveler (played by Jason Bateman) into allowing a dangerous package through security and onto a flight on Christmas Eve, endangering everyone aboard. The film is a thrilling game of cat-and-mouse and has proven so popular that it’s currently Netflix’s third most popular original movie of all time.

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl is the latest film from Aardman animation studio, starring the beloved dog and his hapless, cheese-loving master. The Netflix original film about a robotic garden gnome that wreaks havoc on the man and his best friend arrived to the platform recently and received an Oscar nomination this year for best animated feature.

Watch Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl on Netflix

The Only Girl in the Orchestra won an Oscar this year for best documentary short and you can catch the 35-minute film exclusively on Netflix. The film is the story of Orin O’Brien, the first woman hired to perform in the New York Philharmonic (by Leonard Bernstein, no less). Often ogled for her looks and singled out for attention because of her gender, she rose above it all, staying true to her creative principles to become one of the orchestra’s most renowned musicians for decades.

Watch The Only Girl in the Orchestra on Netflix

1917, the critically lauded, Oscar-winning film directed by Sam Mendes about World War I was remarkable for the fact that it was filmed with the intent of making it appear as though the entire movie was shot as two long, continuous takes. The movie stars George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman as British soldiers traveling across a dangerous battle zone rigged by Germans in an effort to deliver a message to their superiors, warning them of an impending attack. The film’s stellar supporting cast includes Andrew Scott, Benedict Cumberbatch, Mark Strong and Richard Madden.

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is dedicated to the memory of Chadwick Boseman, who made his final screen appearance in the film before his death in 2020. The film stars Boseman as Levee Green, a member of blues singer Ma Rainey’s band (Viola Davis), and takes place amid one of the band’s conflict-ridden and turbulent recording sessions in 1920s Chicago. Taylour Paige, Colman Domingo and Glynn Turman co-star in the film that was adapted from August Wilson’s 1982 play.

Watch Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom on Netflix

Genre: Drama
Rating: R

In His Three Daughters, Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen star as three estranged sisters who come together in their dying father’s small New York apartment to care for him in his last days. Writer-director Azazel Jacobs coaxes some incredible performances out of each actress for this intimate, emotional and often funny study of family dynamics.

Watch His Three Daughters on Netflix

Colman Domingo earned an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of civil rights activist Bayard Rustin in this film about a man whose legacy has often been overlooked in civil rights history. Bayard Rustin fought alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and helped organize the 1963 March on Washington and the Freedom Rides, among other major historic events. 

Rustin’s outspoken activism and homosexuality made him a target — not just for political adversaries but sometimes even among his allies. The film explores the life of a man whose legacy has long been overlooked.

Watch Rustin on Netflix

Always Be My Maybe stars Ali Wong and Randall Park as Sasha and Marcus, childhood best friends who grew up next door to one another in San Francisco. The two fall out after attempting the whole “friends with benefits” thing as teens but 15 years later they reunite — uncomfortably — when Sasha returns to her hometown for work. 

As Marcus struggles with his feelings for Sasha, she goes off and dates Keanu Reeves (playing a hilariously over-the-top version of himself), as she tries to figure out how she feels about her old friend. Charming and sweet, the film is a rom-com that’s reliably funny thanks to its leads and excellent supporting performances from Michelle Buteau, Vivian Bang and Reeves.

Watch Always Be My Maybe on Netflix

This biographical film nabbed seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography and Best Picture. Maestro tells the story of conductor Leonard Bernstein (Bradley Cooper) and his relationship with actor Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan). In addition to starring in the romance drama, Cooper also directed and co-wrote the film and produced it alongside Hollywood legends Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg.

Watch Maestro on Netflix

Godzilla Minus One is an Academy Award-winning Japanese-language movie written and directed by Takashi Yamazaki. Set in 1945, the story centers around Kōichi Shikishima, a young pilot dealing with PTSD in a post-World War II era. After surviving an encounter with Godzilla, he and others realize the kaiju is gearing up to attack Tokyo. The Sony film is available to stream on Netflix now.

Watch Godzilla Minus One on Netflix

Based on the novel by Elena Ferrante, The Lost Daughter stars Olivia Colman as a woman traveling alone to a seaside resort where she observes a mother and daughter. They send her into a bit of a spiral, recalling her own experiences as a young mother. The screenplay was adapted and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal in her directorial debut.

Watch The Lost Daughter on Netflix

The award-winning film, Society of the Snow, is based on true events and adapted from the book of the same name. In 1972, a rugby team from Uruguay boarded a plane to Chile for a game. The plane crashed in the Andes mountains, leaving survivors to contend with injuries, illness, cold temperatures and death. Not everyone makes it and those facing death make agonizing choices to live.

Watch Society of the Snow on Netflix

If you weren’t around at the time, it’s hard to explain just how huge We Are the World was. Recorded by a supergroup of popular musicians — assembled on the fly on the night of the 1985 American Music Awards — the charity single benefiting Ethiopian famine victims sold more than 20 million copies and featured the likes of Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Diana Ross. (It feels impossible to imagine so many mega-stars assembling in one room for something like this today.) 

Luckily for us, there were cameras rolling the entire time as dozens of the world’s most famous musicians pulled the epic all-night recording session. The recently departed Quincy Jones proves to be the night’s true star, wrangling a studio full of nerves, egos and a little too much wine to produce something genuinely special.

Watch The Greatest Night in Pop on Netflix

A standalone sequel to 2019’s hit film Knives Out, Glass Onion follows detective Benoit Blanc’s (Daniel Craig) mission to uncover a mysterious death, after tech billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton) invites friends to his private Greek island. The film features fun plot twists and is broken up by lighthearted humor and aloof characters played by an all-star cast. The third Knives Out film, Wake Up Dead Man, is arriving to the streamer on Dec. 12.

Watch Glass Onion on Netflix

An absorbingly unsettling psychological thriller, Leave the World Behind chronicles the strange events that arise during a family’s getaway at an opulent rental home. A blackout renders their phones, TVs and other electronics useless and two strangers show up at the door. TikTok has been flooded with clips and analyses of this apocalypse movie, with people reflecting on potential “hidden messages” and real-life parallels. Check it out and see what you make of it.

Watch Leave the World Behind on Netflix

Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña and Karla Sofía Gascón star in Emilia Pérez, a film that earned a whopping 10 Golden Globe nominations this year and picked up four awards, including Best Picture Musical or Comedy and the Best Supporting Actress trophy for Saldaña. In the film, Gascón stars as Mexican cartel leader Emilia who hires a lawyer (Saldaña) to help fake her death so that Emilia can finally live authentically as her true self. The crime-comedy-musical that defies all labels was also named one of the 10 best films of 2024 by the American Film Institute.

Watch Emilia Pérez on Netflix

This animated drama, based on the graphic novel of the same name, is set in a futuristic medieval world, in which a knight (Riz Ahmed) is framed for a crime. A shapeshifting teenager named Nimona (Chloë Grace Moretz) — whom he’s been trained to destroy — may be his only hope for proving his innocence.

Watch Nimona on Netflix

This biographical film tells the story of two sisters, Yusra (Nathalie Issa) and Sarah Mardini (Manal Issa), who escape war-torn Syria. Amid all the strife and upheaval, Yusra works toward her dream of swimming in the Olympics. It’s a touching narrative of hope and survival.

Watch The Swimmers on Netflix

A World War I drama based on the classic novel of the same name, this epic depicts the horrors of war through the eyes of 17-year-old German soldier Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer). At first enthused about joining the army, in spite of his parents’ wishes, Bäumer gets a violent wake-up call. All Quiet on the Western Front was a dominating force at the 95th Annual Academy Awards, as it was nominated for nine Oscars and ultimately walked away with four, including best international feature film.

Watch All Quiet on the Western Front on Netflix

Annette Bening and Jodie Foster both scored Oscar nominations (for best actress and best supporting actress) for their roles in Nyad, the Netflix original film about marathon swimmer Diana Nyad and her devoted coach Bonnie Stoll. 

The remarkable true story is not a full biopic but a chapter of Nyad’s accomplished life when, at the age of 60, Nyad became obsessed with completing the arduous, near-impossible 110-mile swim from Cuba to Florida. Determined to become the first person to finish the swim without a shark cage, the film is a story of Nyad’s determination, ushered along by the support of those closest to her.

Watch Nyad on Netflix

Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma nabbed him the best director Oscar in 2018 (the film earned two other Oscars that year, too), a first for a foreign-language film. Its inclusion in the award show marked the first time a film distributed by a streaming platform was eligible for major awards. The film, set in the early 1970s, stars Yalitza Aparicio as the live-in housekeeper for a wealthy Mexico City family as she deals with her own pregnancy, the troubles within the family she works for and the escalating political turmoil in the city around her.

Watch Roma on Netflix

Untold is Netflix’s answer to ESPN’s 30 for 30 and the documentary series features dozens of fascinating behind-the-scenes stories from the world of sports. One of the very best is the 2021 documentary called Crime & Penalties. It’s about a minor league hockey team that an alleged mob boss bought as a gift for his teenage son, who turned out to be a pretty good team manager. Even if some of the movie’s main players might be criminals, the story behind this ragtag team of brawling bros proves truth is often stranger than fiction.

Watch Untold: Crime & Penalties on Netflix